A Call to Action — Support Minnesota’s DREAMers

Our friends at Centro Campesinohave been working tirelessly to push the Prosperity Act, which would open access for undocumented students to in-state tuition and financial assistance. These opportunities are at the heart of our shared American dream. Please read this message from Centro Campesino Members and the youth of the Pa’Delante Youth Action Network. Act and share widely!

We have two hearings for the Prosperity (Dream) Act! (SF 723/HF 875), one in the Senate Finance Committee and one in the House Higher Education Committee.

Here are some quick actions you can take to support Dreamers and make sure this bill passes:

1) MAKE PHONE CALLS AND SEND E-MAILS TO SECURE VOTES IN THE HOUSE COMMITTEE:

After much work and many phone calls and e-mails by people like you we were able to secure a hearing for the Prosperity Act (MN Dream Act) in front of the House Higher Education Committee. The hearing is on April 3rd.

Although we have a hearing the work is not done. We need to call and e-mail representatives who are less supportive to make sure they vote in favor of the bill. We saw how big an impact this made in getting the hearing, we can make an impact again. Please report confirmed calls to jeff.centrocampesino@gmail.com (this step is really important!)

Please call or e-mail the following Representatives: If they don’t pick up please leave a message. (See the great sample message from Navigate below if you need ideas about what to say)

Hi, my name is ______________. I am calling/emailing to ask you to support HF 875/Prosperity Act. Minnesota should be doing everything in its power to make sure that our students have a MN future.

New Minnesotans are part of our communities. This initiative has broad, bipartisan, rural and urban support. The community wants this. The MN Chamber of Commerce and Education Minnesota, MN’s largest teachers’ union, both support this. The MN Private Colleges Council, MnSCU, and the University have expressed their support for this comprehensive piece of legislation. Investing in MN’s children are MN values.

Even with federal immigration reform looking more likely, state action to open educational access is necessary. It will likely be left to the state to decide to make in-state tuition and financial aid accessible to New American youth who are legalized through federal action. Even if federal reform includes federal financial aid for these students (which is unlikely), states will still need to pass legislation to allow some of their New American youth (including students who quality for Deferred Action) to pay resident tuition and/or access state-based financial aid.

Thank you for supporting all MN students to succeed and be productive members of our communities

You can see the list here (http://bit.ly/169rW7z) If your organization has not or know other places who you think should, please send them this information: http://bit.ly/WszEpU. Also you can sign up as an individual. If your organization can’t pledge support, please do so personally.

A Message from Juventio Meza of the Citizen’s League:“The MN Prosperity Act is a state issue related to workforce development and education (nothing to do with immigration law). The DREAM Act (acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) is a proposal at the Federal level that will change the immigration status of young New Americans. The state’s role is only to invest in retaining students in school and well prepare these New Minnesotans for our future workforce and their futures.”If you are interested in organizing around this issue you contact the following people:Southern MN: Jeff Jurewicz at jeff.centrocampesino@gmail.comTwin Cities: Nestor Gomez atNestor@tamalesybicicletas.org